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This Inhumans promo posters with the ominous words “Complete Series” led to many headlines wondering if ABC had already cancelled it.

Given all the leaks and shade, that seemed a reasonable guess. Alas, Gizmodo’s all too reasonable spoilsport Charles Pulliam-Moore has mostly debunked this  by pointing out that old posters also used the “complete series’ line.

While the orientation and layout of this ad may be new, it should be noted that it’s just a differently-organized version of promotional art that ABC has been using as far back as June that also calls the show the “complete series.” An earlier teaser poster merely describes it “a Marvel television series,” but the change doesn’t necessarily mean that ABC or Marvel have already axed Inhumans. The wording seems more likely to be related to the show premiering in theaters, with a “complete” run of the series happening on TV.

Inhumans debuts on broadcast TV next Friday, and we’ll see how the ratings fare.
¶ Speaking of ratings, a study of Netflix claims to show that The Defenders was the least viewed Marvel Netflix show to date.

For the comparison, Jumpshot created an index benchmarking each of the Netflix Marvel series against the top-viewed of the bunch, which was “Daredevil” season 2 in March 2016. Following its Aug. 18 premiere, “The Defenders” clocked in with just 17% of the viewership that “Daredevil” season two received in the first 30 days. The study looked at Netflix U.S. subs who watched at least one episode of each series.

 Compared with “The Defenders,” the previous premieres of “Iron Fist,” “Luke Cage” and “Jessica Jones” performed relatively equally in the first 30 days, accounting for 28%, 27% and 26% of “Daredevil” season 2’s viewership, respectively. In addition to being the least-viewed of the group, “The Defenders” also had the largest week-over-week drop in viewership, declining by 67%, 48% and 41%, respectively, over the 30-day period, per Jumpshot.
Since Netflix viewing figures are a closely guarded state secret, other metrics are used to determine interest. Jumpshot uses Nielsen-like viewing studies:
The San Francisco-based company analyzes anonymized click-stream data from a panel of more than 100 million internet consumers, amounting to some 160 billion individual data points per month. The data excludes viewing that occurs on connected-TV platforms or Netflix mobile apps, but Jumpshot says its benchmark analysis reflects aggregate viewing on the platform.

A link in the Variety piece led to this rather intriguing Netflix news release which features a fascinating mandala disguised as a chart:
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However, reaching viewers seems to be an even more arcane process:

Viewers are finding their way to the adventures of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist through shows as diverse as the Defenders crew. And it’s not by chance, it’s by design – more than 80% of all shows are discovered through Netflix recommendations.

“At Netflix we know genres are just wrappers, which is why we work hard to create algorithms that help members break these pre-conceived notions and make it easier for them to find stories they’ll love, even in seemingly unlikely places,” said Todd Yellin, Vice President of Product.

According to this study,seekers find answers with Marvel Netflix shows as follows:

Anti-heroes and moral ambiguity lead viewers to Marvel’s Daredevil.

Sharp humor, strong females and dark crime draw watchers to Marvel’s Jessica Jones.

Dangerous worlds and complex consequences direct viewers to Marvel’s Luke Cage.

Edgy coming-of-age tales steer watchers to Marvel’s Iron Fist.

I didn’t know that “complex consequences” was a genre…but I do now!

 

 

6 COMMENTS

  1. “accounting for 28%, 27% and 26% of “Daredevil” season 2’s viewership,”

    Is this not a great big blinking neon warning sign of something wrong with how Netflix is making these Marvel shows, and perhaps how they make shows in general? Over 70% of “Daredevil” Season 2 viewers skipped the other three shows when they first came out?

    Those numbers seem to say there should have been a season 3, 4, and 5 of “Daredevil” and Netflix is stupid for not making them but because of the Netflix “make a whole season and then move on” approach to TV production, they were already too far into making the other shows to react to the success of “Daredevil” and the relative commercial failures of the other three shows.

    Mike

  2. It’s sad to me people spend so much time watching TV they actually turn Netflix on and watch whatever random thing it recommends.

  3. “they were already too far into making the other shows to react to the success of “Daredevil” and the relative commercial failures of the other three shows.”

    Who knows if Netflix even has the rights to a season 3 of Daredevil?

  4. Never mind I see it’s in production, wonder if any of this stuff will move to Disney’s streaming service?

  5. I think the Marvel Netflix shows are boring. So slow, no fun, no costumes. Why is this a Marvel show again?? Jessica Jones was cool because it had actual super powers, not just strength and invulnerability.

  6. Stopped watching Daredevil when Kingpin killed Ben Urich. I was furious. So furious that I skipped Jessica Jones. Not a huge fan of that actress anyway. Luke Cage was great and Iron Fist was just like the comic book and I liked the comic book. Defenders was pretty good, but Luke Cage is the one that I think did it the best. Plus, I’m pretty sure that invulnerability and radar sense are actual super powers. Also, glowing fist of iron? Yeah, that’s a super power too.

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